Point-of-Care RNA-Based Diagnostic Device for COVID-19

Abstract

At the end of 2019, the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), a fast-spreading respiratory disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), was reported in Wuhan, China and has now affected over 123 countries globally [...].

Figure 1

Schematic of the point-of-care (POC) RNA-based novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) diagnostic device. In this figure, the conceptual workflow of integrating both point-of-care diagnostic and loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) assay with mobile device was presented. People at home quarantine can collect their infectious specimen through nasal swab; after adding specific reagents for LAMP reaction, the colorimetric result can be observed on paper. By recording the colorimetric change through a mobile phone camera, the user could upload the result to cloud storage by Internet. Clinicians or health-care specialist could thus analyze the result and offer immediate information for both patient and the government. Since the whole diagnostic process can be performed at home, the suspected case does not need to travel to hospital and can in turns lower the risk of spreading the disease.